LOS ALAMITOS – The Los Alamitos girls volleyball team has come a long way in a short time.
The Griffins, ranked 10th in the county, started Sunset League play with a pair of five-set losses.
Thanks to a sweep of seventh-ranked Huntington Beach, 25-21, 25-19, 25-19, on Thursday, Los Alamitos (15-11, 5-2) has played its way into a three-way tie for first place.
Huntington Beach (18-9 overall) and Newport Harbor are also 5-2 in league, with three matches remaining for each team.
“This was one of our more consistent performances,” Los Alamitos coach Dave Huber said. “We gave up a couple of points, but never wavered in what we were trying to do. We stuck with the game plan and came back to it instead of getting tentative and going with what was easy.”
Hannah Wehring led the Griffins with 15 kills. Taylor Cochrane added 11 and Brittany Tuliau added seven. Setter Julia Patterson had 42 assists.
In their first two losses in league, the Griffins weren’t able to close out matches. Against Newport Harbor, they won the first two sets and then lost the next three. In the first match against Huntington Beach, they led 2-1 but lost the final two sets.
It was a different story Thursday. The Griffins rallied from a 7-3 deficit and took the lead for good at 13-12 on a net error and went on to complete the sweep.
“We are right there in a lot of (early) those matches,” Huber said. “But when it gets down to it, we don’t do the things we said we were going to do. You have to learn to win like you learn to do anything else, so hopefully they’re learning how to win and finish teams off.”
The Oilers have lost consecutive league matches. Cami Sanchez had 11 kills and Anna Carroll added nine.
“They (Los Alamitos) played well tonight,” Huntington Beach coach Craig Pazanti said. “They didn’t do anything we weren’t prepared for, it was just a matter of execution. I think it was the same thing Tuesday night (in a three-set loss to Edison).
“This league is tough. You have to come to play every night. We have to let this one go and start to refocus on Newport (Harbor).”
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com
